RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) -- As families of Newtown, Connecticut continue to heal after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in December, two local photography students are working to raise funds for the families who lost loved ones and to create new memories for families here in Reno.

"I saw all the people who died on the news," said 8-year-old Charlie Casas.

Charlie is talking about the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.

"I cried," Charlie said. "I thought it was very sad."

Most of them weren't much younger than Charlie, so he's helping his mom with a fundraiser.

"We want to make them feel better, so we're doing this for them," Charlie said.

"I think it touched everybody and I just wanted to do something to help," his mom Sally Casas said.

Sally is a photography student at University of Nevada, so she and her classmate Shahetul Chisty are taking photos of children in exchange for donations to the Sandy Hook School support fund.

"When they're that age, you always want to remember that moment," Chisty said.

"It provides a really beautiful memory for the families to keep of their own child and realize that not everybody is as lucky as we are," Casas said.

"You know I think you need to capture the little things and you kind of forget to," Krystal Solorzano said.

Solorzano brought her 6-year-old daughter Kenna in to capture those memories.

"It's a big milestone," Solorzano said. "It's the first year they go to school for the most part and they're on their own and they're in the big world by themselves now."

She says Kenna understands how they're helping.

"It'll be something I think she remembers on her own why she took these pictures, and, you know, in memory of the little kids also that we're helping and their families," Solorzano said.